


nothing to lose and each other to gain

by downn_in_flames



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Surfers, Community: HPFT, Eventual Smut, F/M, Family Vacations, Surfing, because apparently smut is just a thing i do now oops, highly accurate descriptions of physics concepts, i don't really know how else to explain this fic, james is a surfing instructor, lily is on a family vacation, lmao the fact that that's already a tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-29
Updated: 2020-06-29
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:41:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24984739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/downn_in_flames/pseuds/downn_in_flames
Summary: Falling for your surfing instructor probably isn't considered an 'appropriate' family vacation activity.
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 23
Kudos: 181





	nothing to lose and each other to gain

Blue. Impossibly blue.

That's the first thing she notices looking out of the window of their shuttle, as they arrive at the little beach hotel that they're going to be staying at for the next week. The ocean stretches out before her eyes as they cross a narrow bridge, and it's positively mesmerising.

The van comes to a stop in front of the tiny check-in building at the front of the hotel, dropping the Evans family off at their new home for the next week. It's a gorgeous little place - instead of a traditional hotel, there are a whole collection of little bungalows painted in bright colors with straw roofs and hammocks on every porch, and just beyond them, that same bright blue ocean she'd been staring at the whole way here.

She's convinced she's landed in paradise.

"Lily!" her sister's voice tears her from her reverie. "Stop staring at the ocean and get your bag!"

Well, paradise plus Petunia.

"Coming," she replies, grabbing her suitcase and following her family to their place.

"The two of you can share the room on the bottom floor - we'll take the upstairs area," her mother tells the two of them.

That's always the downside of family vacations: sharing a room with Petunia.

She won't complain about it, because the whole purpose of this trip is celebrating her dad's retirement and she's going to do her best not to ruin that for him, but god, sharing a tiny room with her very high-maintenance and ornery sister for a week is bound to have Lily losing her mind at some point.

"I call dibs on the bed closest to the door - you can have the one in the back," Petunia says as they walk into the room, throwing her suitcase onto the bed possessively.

Lily doesn't argue with that either - if only because she knows Petunia's going to end up being woken up by the light coming in through the windows every morning while Lily stays in the dark for a bit longer - and drags her stuff over to the other bed.

"We've got the welcome dinner in an hour and a half, by the way," Lily says to her sister, opening up her suitcase and rifling through it for something a little nicer than her travel clothes. She settles on a simple floral dress, pulling it out and shaking it to remove some of the wrinkles.

One of her dad's biggest dreams in life has been to learn how to surf, so the moment he discovered that there were all-inclusive group trips for surfing excursions, he'd instantly pinpointed that as his ideal retirement trip. He hadn't even really asked anyone else in the family for input about it, just sent her and Petunia the trip confirmation details with the assumption that both would come.

And so six months (and a minor meltdown from Petunia over the trip 'interfering' with her secretarial job) later, here they all are, on a cute little facilitated group trip where Lily's almost positive everyone around them will be at least ten years older than her.

Of course, she'll never be upset about a free tropical vacation, so she can roll with hanging out with a bunch of thirty-somethings all week.

Petunia calls dibs on the shower first, and manages to take almost an hour in the bathroom, leaving Lily with little more than thirty minutes to shower and get ready. As such, her hair's still partially wet as they make their way up from their little bungalow to the hotel restaurant.

It's mostly fine though, really, it's not like she's trying to impress anyone at dinner or anything, but she'd like to look at least a little more put together than having her hair leave wet marks on the back of her dress.

There's a long table set up on the patio of the restaurant, and it's clear that that's the place for their little group to congregate. Both of her parents are already sitting at the table, chatting with another couple who look to be somewhere between their age and her and Petunia's age, and they wave their daughters down when they notice the two of them coming down the path.

"How's your room?" their mother asks as Lily and Petunia take the seats next to their parents. Petunia sits next to their mother, leaving Lily between Petunia and an empty chair.

"It's nice," both girls reply, almost simultaneously.

"Good, good."

Lily sees a drink menu on the table and immediately grabs it. A margarita sounds like a dream right about now.

The table starts to fill up with others - mostly couples, a few single people, all of them much older than her. A few chairs remain empty though, including the one next to Lily.

She tries not to take that too personally.

She looks over at the bar somewhat longingly - the people huddled around there look to be much more her crowd, at least age-wise. There are two boys she notices in particular, not because they're the most attractive ones there (although in fairness to them, they are) but because they're both laughing loudly at something, faces completely lit up in joy.

It's weirdly magnetic.

She watches them for maybe a little longer than she should. The first boy has pitch-black hair pulled up into a messy bun on the top of his head, and a whole sleeve of tattoos peeking out the side of his black T-shirt. He almost knocks over his beer as he gestured dramatically, mid-conversation.

And then there's the second boy, whose messy hair looks like something between beach hair and sex hair, with a jawline sharp enough to cut glass and a pair of thick-framed glasses that somehow make him look both nerdy and hot all at once.

As if he knows she's looking at him, he picks that exact moment to look away from his friend and towards their table, and his eyes land on her almost immediately.

She immediately turns her attention to her drink menu, feeling her cheeks warm. Nerd Hot definitely noticed her staring.

Despite her every instinct, she finds herself looking up at him again after a moment, only to find him leaned closer to Tattooed Man-Bun, whispering something to his friend, who laughs at his words. She can only hope he's not making a joke at her expense.

"And what can I get you to drink?" Lily snaps her attention to the waitress standing in front of her.

"A margarita, please."

The woman turns to her parents. "Is she of age?"

"Yes," her dad replies, and Lily feels like she's about to die of embarrassment. The drinking age here is 18... does she really look like she's still in _high school_? She knows she's not wearing any makeup, but _god_ , she likes to think she doesn't still look like a literal child at 22.

"Got it then," the waitress says, jotting the order down on her notepad.

Now Lily _really_ needs that tequila.

Meanwhile, Nerd Hot and Tattooed Man-Bun are laughing about something again, and they're joined by a dark-haired girl who immediately goes to hug them both. Lily envies her, _especially_ when she orders a drink from the bar with ease, the bartender not even thinking twice as he pours her a beer.

Lily's margarita arrives at about the same time as a tall, sandy-haired man appears at the head of their table. She takes her first sip - shivering at the strength of the tequila - as he introduces himself.

"Hello and welcome to Costa Rica, everyone," he says, clasping his hands together. "I hope you all had easy travels to get here and have gotten nice and settled in your rooms. I'm Remus Lupin, director of Marauders Surfing and the one responsible for making sure you all have a good time this week."

He suddenly looks over to the bar, nodding. Lily follows his gaze, right to the three people she'd been looking at earlier, who are now all walking over towards their table.

"These are your instructors for the week," Remus says, gesturing to the three of them as they appear by his side. "Sirius, Mary, and James."

They each wave in turn, which is how Lily learns that Tattooed Man-Bun is named Sirius and Nerd Hot is named James.

She meets his eyes again and he smiles at her, the corner of his lip quirking upwards in a mischievous sort of way that makes her heart pick up pace.

Which is exceptionally stupid, and she curses her own body for reacting like that. He's a surfing instructor for their whole group - he probably smiles like that at everyone. She's not special.

And so Lily turns her attention to her margarita again, taking a large sip and practically relishing in the sting in her throat.

With her attention diverted, she doesn't even notice when someone pulls out the chair next to hers.

"This seat taken?"

It's Nerd Hot - _James_ , she reminds herself, he _does_ have a name - looking down at her, expectantly waiting for her to confirm that no, the seat beside her is not in fact occupied. The other instructors and Remus are doing the same thing - filling in the gaps across the table.

"Uh, no, it isn't," she answers, setting her drink back down on the table.

"Excellent," he replies, sitting down. "I'm James, by the way, although I guess you probably knew that based on the fact that Remus introduced me less than five minutes ago."

He's even prettier up close than he was across the room.

"I'm Lily," she manages.

"Well, Lily, it's lovely to meet you." She notices that he's got a dimple that appears on his right cheek when he smiles. "Did you come with anyone on this trip, or is it just you?"

"Oh, my whole family's here," Lily replies, gesturing to her parents and sister sitting beside her. She gets how he might not realise they're all related - while Petunia looks a lot like both of their parents, Lily's red hair and green eyes are traits not reflected in any of them.

She's also weirdly flattered - mostly because it means she apparently looks old enough to be there by herself. Which is a step up from being assumed to be a literal child. Take _that_ , waitress.

"Nice to meet you all as well," he says, turning his attention to all of them. "Your names are - ?"

"I'm Petunia." The fact that her sister's voice has suddenly turned high-pitched and delicate makes it immediately apparent to Lily that Petunia's trying to flirt with their surf instructor.

Lily immediately hates that. Not because she's jealous or wants him for herself, but because he's one of their _instructors_. That's clearly a line that shouldn't be crossed. Her sister should have the self-respect not to go all doe-eyed over a surfer boy just because he's got nice hair and pretty eyes, really.

But either James doesn't seem to notice the way Petunia bats her eyes at him or just elects to ignore it, and he just moves on to introducing himself to both of her parents and then the rest of the people seated near him at the table. He's really quite a natural at it - at this whole making-strangers-like-him thing - and he manages to charm pretty much everyone around him over the course of the night, taking the time to make connections with all of them.

Lily, as someone who's never been that type of person, is kind of in awe of it.

It's probably because of that - and nothing else - that she continuously gets the feeling he's paying her the most attention of all. He's probably making everyone feel like that.

No, those looks he keeps giving her - like they're both in on the same secret - are entirely meaningless. Nothing to them at all.

* * *

The next morning starts early - it's really only the promise of coffee that drags Lily out of bed at 7 a.m. on vacation. She puts on a blue bikini and an oversized cardigan before heading out the door, not bothering to brush her hair or do anything along the lines of making herself look presentable.

Which she instantly feels bad about the moment she steps into the breakfast area, because the very first person she lays eyes on is Sirius, who still looks just as perfect now as he did last night.

"Morning, Lily!" he says, far too cheerfully for this hour.

She's also surprised that he knows her name. She never actually directly introduced herself to him last night since he ended up sitting on the opposite end of the table from where she was, so the fact that he somehow knows her name and face well already is a bit of a shock.

"Good morning," she replies softly, her voice still heavy with sleep, as she makes a beeline for the coffee machine.

Once she's got a full mug, she walks over to the table Sirius is sitting at. The entire breakfast room is empty except for the two of them, so she figures it'd be a bit awkward to just completely isolate herself.

"This seat taken?" she asks him, gesturing to the spot beside him.

"Nope," he answers. "One of them is meant for James eventually, but somehow I don't think he'll mind when he finds out you've taken one."

She's not sure if Sirius is trying to hint at something there, but it's far too early for her to be trying to assign unspoken meaning to someone else's words, so she just lets it slide.

"Okay." She sits, and takes a long sip of her way-too-hot coffee.

"The rest of your family not up yet?"

Lily shrugs. "My parents are in a separate room, so I wouldn't know. But Tuney was fast asleep when I left and I've learned from experience that waking her up is a recipe for disaster, so… yeah, just me so far."

"That's fun, that your whole family wanted to come out on this trip all together. I can't imagine anyone in my family being on board with that idea."

There's a hint of bitterness in his tone, but also something a bit guarded, so she gets the feeling he doesn't really want to talk about it.

"Yeah, it's definitely a fun thing," Lily replies, choosing not to mention that she and Petunia have already had their first major bickering of the trip - she'd thrown a minor fit over Lily trying to do some class readings before bed last night because 'the light was disruptive to her sleep' and goddammit Lily just wants to make sure she's not eons behind on her coursework when she gets home.

"Sirius you absolute fucking bastard, I'm going to murder you," James' voice rings out as he enters the pavilion, his tone halfway between angry and joking. He comes to a sudden halt when he notices Lily, eyes going almost comically wide. "Shit. Uh, good morning, Lily."

She fails at holding in a laugh. "Good morning to you too," she replies, wide awake now even though she's barely made a dent in her coffee. "Do I _want_ to know why you're contemplating murder this early in the day?"

"Sirius can tell you," he replies, going to pour himself a coffee as well. "He knows what he did."

Sirius barks out a laugh. "You're such a drama queen," he tells James, before turning back to Lily. "Remus and I snuck into his room while he was running this morning to borrow some of his surf wax. We _may_ have also decided to take all of his towels with us."

"A fact I didn't discover until I was getting out of the shower," James replies, sitting at the table next to Sirius and across from Lily. Up close, Lily can tell that his hair really is still completely soaking wet. "Really, I try to be charitable and let them borrow my things, and they repay me by pulling childish tricks on me. Horrible friends, the both of them."

"That just means that now you have to find a way to get them back, doesn't it?"

James' face splits into the brightest smile she's ever seen. "You're a girl after my own heart."

She curses her pale skin for doing little to hide the blush that creeps up her cheeks at the almost-certainly-unintentional flirtatious remark.

Sirius mutters something under his breath - something that sounds along the lines of 'But we already knew that, didn't we?' - that earns him a sharp elbow in the side from James.

"Anyways," James says, deciding to ignore Sirius' yelp of protest and turning his attention back to Lily, "you excited for your first day of learning how to surf?"

"Your whole family's assigned to this loser, so don't get too excited," Sirius says, returning James' earlier elbow with a nudge of his own.

"Are you insulting my teaching skills?" James asks in mock-offense, before turning to Lily. "I'm an _excellent_ teacher, I promise."

Sirius smirks. "Yeah, yeah, he's decent."

"I guess I'll get to be the judge of that then, won't I?" Lily returns.

James grins at her, that same sort of one from last night that makes her feel like there are a million unspoken words behind it. "I guess you will."

* * *

Eventually, the breakfast area fills up with people, and once everyone's had a little bit to eat, Remus appears again, giving directions for what's set to happen next and assigning groups of people to their instructors.

And true to what Sirius had said earlier, the entire Evans family is under James' name.

Petunia lights up at that news, and Lily has to fight to stop the automatic eye-roll that threatens to come out of her at her sister's reaction. She's not sure she can handle watching her sister bat her eyes at their instructor for a whole week - and that's undoubtedly what's about to happen here.

They all go out to the storage area just off the beach, and are each handed a surfboard. Unlike the shiny, deep red surfboard James has tucked under his arm, Lily and the rest of her family are given thick, foam blue boards that honestly don't even feel like something meant to be surfed on.

"These are beginner boards," Remus explains as he hands them out to the group of them, "they're much easier to balance on and are a hell of a lot less likely to hurt you if they hit you when you fall off. Some of you may graduate to the hard surfboards by the end of the trip - they're much faster and more responsive - but it's always best to start out on one of these."

They lug the unwieldy things towards the water, but stop short of actually going in. On the beach, they all split into their individual groups, so James has the four of them off in their own little section of the beach.

The whole process of surfing seems relatively simple to her when laid out like this - she's sure there's a lot more to it when actually in the ocean with actual waves instead of just going through the motions on land, but James really does make it seem so natural and easy.

"I think you've all got the basic technique down," he says after watching them all mock standing up on the land-ridden boards for the tenth or so time. "You all ready to try this out on the water?"

The whole family gives some sort of affirmative, so James claps his hands together and grins. "Let's get out there then."

Lily shimmies out of the shorts she'd put on to come out to the beach, tossing them on top of where her shoes are sitting, and looks up from doing that at the exact time James pulls his shirt over his head.

And… well. His athleticism is immediately _very_ apparent, and Lily suddenly feels warm in a way that can absolutely in no way be attributed to the Costa Rica sun. She thought he was cute and funny before; _now_ , she wants him to slam her into a wall and make out with her.

He'd probably be really good at it too.

She snaps back into her senses after a few long moments of fantasy, realising she's been looking at him for far too long. _Fuck_ , she really hopes he didn't notice the way she'd basically just started eyefucking him the moment he took his shirt off. That's... really not a great look for her.

He's just trying to do his job and teach her family how to surf, and here she is openly lusting after him for that. Really, how pathetic.

But luckily for her, James' enthusiasm for teaching seems to have completely distracted him from noticing the way she'd been looking at him, because he's busy instructing Lily's dad on how to properly put on his ankle strap instead of looking over at her.

Once they're all in the water, he demos once for all of them, catching a tiny white-capped wave and riding it with practiced ease, before hopping off the side of the board and swimming back to them like he's done this a thousand times before. He makes it look so easy, that Lily's almost taken aback when her first attempt goes nowhere near as seamlessly, and she falls off the board almost as soon as she tries to pop up to standing.

"That wasn't bad for a first attempt," James tells her, and she has to resist rolling her eyes.

"You don't have to coddle me, I'm very aware that that sucked," she replies.

He looks a bit taken aback by that. "I wasn't coddling you," he says. "The fact that you actually managed to catch the wave for a little bit there is more than most people get on their first try."

From behind James, she watches Petunia paddle to catch a wave and completely miss it. "Oh."

"Just make sure you pop up right in the center of the board - that way you won't get thrown off the side when you switch all your weight into your feet." James pats the middle of his own board as he talks.

Sure enough, she takes his advice and actually manages to stay standing for a few moments the second time - until she comes to the realisation that she's managed to stay standing and promptly falls right off.

But when she pops up out of the water, James is applauding. "Nicely done!" he shouts, before turning back to talk Lily's mom through catching another wave.

The whole surfing process gets gradually easier for Lily, and she gradually spends less and less time with James and more and more time just catching as many baby waves as she can, which feels like both a win and a loss all at once. Admittedly, her parents and Petunia probably _do_ need the coaching more, but Lily won't pretend like she doesn't enjoy James' attention either.

Especially when, every time James gives Petunia any sort of instruction, Lily's sister replies with giggles and playing with her hair - all the classic Petunia-flirting moves.

She _really_ hopes James isn't falling for those.

It's absolutely hypocritical of her to be annoyed, given the fact that Lily keeps catching _herself_ staring at him on occasion, but that self-awareness does little to actually temper the annoyance.

She decides her built-up frustration is probably best directed towards actually doing the thing she's sitting out on the middle of the ocean to do, so she looks behind her for a good wave to catch and starts paddling.

And if it pays off at the end of the morning with James congratulating her performance and merely telling Petunia she's 'making progress'? Well then, that's really only just an added perk.

* * *

Lily quickly decides that she quite likes surfing. Three days in, and she's by far the best in the family, and her incessantly competitive nature is just absolutely basking in that.

But the afternoons are nice too - they always go out for surfing lessons first thing in the morning, leaving the after-lunch period free for whatever else they want to do.

She's laying out poolside and engrossed in a book - an actual for-pleasure one, not a class reading one - when there's a loud splash from the other side of the pool that makes her look up. Her eyes immediately land on James, who was clearly the source of the splash, flipping his hair out of his face as he emerges from the water.

He looks over and her and grins. "Lily!"

And there it is again, the weird flip-flop her stomach does every time he says her name in just the right sort of way.

She covers it perfectly though, raising an eyebrow at him skeptically. "Made a big enough entrance, did you?"

He smirks. "What can I say, I like my dramatics."

"Of course you do," she replies, a smile fighting its way onto her face.

"Well hey, while we're both here, a few of us - the instructors and some others - are going out to the bar after the group dinner tonight," he says, moving from one side of the pool to right in front of Lily's lounge chair. "Wanna come? Your sister's invited too, of course."

He tacks the last part on a bit nervously, and Lily wonders if maybe she was wrong - maybe he _is_ actually taking the bait on Petunia's flirting. And now he's using Lily as the intermediary to get to her.

But regardless of that, Lily won't pretend like the idea of going out with a group of people closer to her age isn't appealing.

And so she finds herself saying yes. "Sounds fun," she tells him. "And I'm sure Petunia would love that."

"Great," he replies, smiling broadly. "I'll see you there."

* * *

True to her promise, Lily and Petunia meet up with Remus, James, Sirius, and Mary outside the restaurant after dinner. They're joined by a few other younger people from the group - a girl named Emmeline and a guy named Bertram. They make up quite a pack as they all head down the road into town.

The town itself is tiny, a conglomerated mess of upscale resorts and local shops. The bar is pretty easy to spot just off the main road, lit up with neon lights advertising various beers and liquors.

"This is our favorite place here," a voice says, closer to her than she expected, and she turns to see James walking beside her, hands stuffed in the pockets of his dark jeans. "It's a nice little hole in the wall type of vibe."

It's immediately clear to Lily just how much of a favorite this place is to them when it seems like nearly all the locals in the bar recognise them as they walk in.

"Potter, Black!" the bartender exclaims. "Brought us a new crop of visitors, I see."

"Had to introduce them to the best spot in town," James tells him. "I'll have my usual - can I get you anything, Lily?"

It takes her a moment to realise that he's offering to buy her a drink.

And maybe he does that for everyone that he invites out to this bar with him, but somehow… this doesn't feel like that.

"Uh, sure, I'll have a mojito," she replies.

"And I'll have a gin and tonic," Petunia chimes in.

James looks a little surprised by that - clearly, he wasn't actually extending the offer to anyone but Lily - but he orders Petunia her drink nonetheless.

And maybe Lily's awful for this, but that makes her like him even more. Because not only does it suggest that he's _not_ actually interested in Petunia - her sister was the afterthought of the invite out tonight, not Lily - but he's still nice enough to buy her drink anyways instead of saying anything about it.

He hands each of them their drinks when they arrive, before handing his card over to the bartender. By the time he's paid up, Petunia has disappeared somewhere into the crowd with Emmeline and Bertram, which (thankfully) means it's just her and James now.

Not that she's planning on doing anything with him, obviously - she's still pretty sure it's frowned upon to hit on your family's surfing instructor - but for some reason she just really wants him all to herself.

"So, Lily," James begins, magically finding the only free pair of side-by-side barstools and gesturing for Lily to sit in one of them, "when you're not proving to be impressively good at surfing for someone with zero prior experience, what do you do?"

"I'm finishing up my last year of college," she answers. "And after that… well, hell if I know."

He laughs. "Totally fair. What are you studying?"

"Physics, with a minor in Political Science."

"Well shit," he replies, impressed. "You're a right genius then, aren't you? I took _one_ introductory physics class in college and I was so lost by all of it that I'm _still_ not sure how I made it out of that class alive."

Her response comes out before she has a chance to temper it. "You went to college?"

Luckily for her, James takes the slightly-shocked tone of her voice in stride. "You're wondering why I went to college and got a degree and still ended up as a surfing instructor, yeah?"

She just nods before taking a sip of her drink, hoping she doesn't sound entirely rude for having that thought. It's not that he's not living the dream working down here, getting to surf every day and drink every night and somehow make a living off of it, it's just… not the sort of path she'd expect.

"Remus and Sirius are two of my best friends from childhood," he answers. "Like, practically my brothers - Sirius was living with me and my parents by the time we graduated high school, and Remus was already dating him at that point so he was part of the family by extension as well."

So those two _are_ a thing. Lily's had her suspicions since that first day, but she's never been able to confirm one way or the other.

"And we all grew up surfing - we lived right near Huntington Beach so we were out catching waves pretty much every weekend - so when Remus came up with the idea right after graduating to start a surfing excursion company and convinced Sirius to join the venture with him, they asked me to come on as an instructor for a few years."

"So this is only a temporary gig for you?" she asks.

"Yeah." He takes a sip of his drink, then laughs. "Originally, it was only supposed to be a year - it turned into three somehow, but I'm starting law school in the fall so I guess we're leaving it at three."

"Law school?" she repeats back to him. "And you're calling _me_ the genius?"

"I'm good at putting random words together in a way that sounds convincing," he replies. "If you ask me to explain important things about the world like gravity or that thing where things moving in a circle keep moving in a circle, I'm absolutely fucking useless."

She cackles, an entirely unbecoming sound that she can't control. "Centripetal force. It's called centripetal force."

"See?" he says, taking another sip of his drink. "You've got all these scientific terms and meanwhile I'm over here like 'look at how the spinny things spin.' "

She laughs again, this time taking care not to sound like some sort of evil witch. "God, you sound like Marlene."

He cocks his head at her. "Marlene?"

"My best friend," Lily answers. "She refers to quantum physics as 'tiny shit doing weird shit.' "

"I mean, that's basically what it is, isn't it?"

Lily lets out a long-suffering sigh, because _god_ , she can only imagine how things would go if Marley and James ever ended up in the same room. "Yes," she replies reluctantly.

"Do you know what you're gonna do with all that knowledge of tiny shit doing weird shit? I know that's like, the most painful possible question when you're in your last year of school, but…"

"I'm still trying to nail that one down," she replies truthfully, downing the last of her drink. "I work part-time in a lab right now and I think there's a decent chance they offer me a full-time position when I graduate, but I also kinda want to keep studying, so… I don't know, maybe I'll get a PhD eventually."

"Well, if you decide you need a complete break from anything academic-related whatsoever in between now and then, I highly recommend getting a job teaching surfing that pays you to go on tropical vacations."

"Oh yes, because I'd make an _excellent_ surfing instructor, what with my grand total of three days of experience surfing."

He laughs at that, then looks at her empty glass. "Want another?"

She notices what he's looking at, and notices that his glass is empty as well. "Oh, yeah, that'd be great."

He looks up over her head, presumably to the bartender who'd served them earlier. "Elias, another round please?"

James is clearly a favourite customer of his, because the speed with which Lily ends up with a second drink in her hand is truly remarkable, especially in a busy place like this.

"Wait, so you said you work in a lab?" he asks, turning his attention back to Lily as soon as he gets his own drink.

She nods.

"What's that like?"

She tells him, and even starts throwing in stories about her weird boss and her coworkers. He plays the role of a dutiful listener, asking all the right questions and laughing and nodding in all the right places, even when the topic of conversation somehow ends up on the poster of 'house rules' she and Marlene have hung up in their apartment.

"And after that one, 'Evans isn't allowed to use the stove without adult supervision' ended up on there in big black print," she tells him, after explaining the backstory of how she melted a plastic colander on the stove while trying to make mac and cheese.

"Dear god," he says, laughing. "So what do you do when no one else is home? Microwave everything?"

"Well, don't tell Marlene," she replies, leaning in closer to him, "but I might break that rule on a regular basis."

He smirks. "Wow, I didn't realise you were such a rebel, Evans."

He picks up on that nickname from her story with remarkable ease, and when it comes from his lips, it sounds like it belongs there. It makes her feel… something.

Apparently James reads her reaction as something totally different, because his face falls. "Is that one of those nicknames only certain people are allowed to call you otherwise you hate it?"

She shakes her head. "No, not at all. I was just thinking about how much I like it when you call me that."

It's probably the most direct thing she's said to him, the closest she's danced to actually flirting with him, and she's quite sure it's only the alcohol in her system that's propelling her to that level of brazenness.

He smiles at her - which suggests either that he's actually okay with the idea of her flirting with him, or that he's just as oblivious to her efforts as he is to Petunia's. "Okay then."

He makes a point to call her Evans at least five more times over the course of their conversation.

She starts asking him questions about his life too - aware of the fact that she's dominated the conversation thus far - and learns that he's an only child, that he wants to do family law after he gets his degree, and that the very first thing he's planning on doing once he's no longer travelling the world constantly is adopting a cat.

Normally, the more she talks to a hot boy, the less she actually likes them, but the opposite seems to be true of James. He's still _very_ attractive in her mind, and she still occasionally loses her train of thought when he ruffles up his hair with his hand (mostly because she finds herself thinking about how much _she'd_ like to be the one ruffling it), but now she can't stop thinking about how wonderful a guy he is all around.

It's such a fucking disappointment that, the first time she's discovered one of those rare men who's attractiveness hasn't completely drained them of a personality, it's the completely wrong setting for her to make a move on him.

Eventually, two drinks turns into five, and Lily's quite sure that everyone else they came with - including Petunia, who, for all her demonstrated interest in James hasn't come to talk to him once over the course of the night - has either gone home or moved on to a different bar. Which is fair enough, given that it's well past midnight.

She yawns, and James picks up on that cue. "You ready to go back?"

"Yeah," she says with a slow nod. "Early morning and all."

"Fair enough," he agrees, dropping a tip in the jar and offering her his hand.

Whether it's the alcohol dulling her reflexes or the fact that she's just kind of caught off-guard by the gesture, she just stares at his hand for a long moment. So long, in fact, that he's started to let it fall back to his side by the time she finally reaches out and takes it.

His hand is much larger than hers, warm and calloused, and it steadies her as she hops off the barstool and wobbles a little from the alcohol in her system.

"Alright, Evans?" he asks, and the warmth in his voice sends a spark all the way down to her toes.

"Yeah," she says softly, her voice barely audible in the noisy bar, "I'm alright."

He squeezes her hand. "Let's get back then."

She's content to let him do all the hard work of guiding them out of the bar, and navigating their way home. Heaven knows he's made this walk more times than she has - and he seems a little more sober than her too - so he's definitely the person to trust here out of the two of them.

The walk back is infinitely more peaceful than the walk to the bar - probably at least in part due to the fact that there are fewer people with them this time, and also probably due to the fact that the world in general is just so peaceful at this hour.

Lily lets her eyes drift upwards, and, not for the first time on this trip but certainly for the first time while drunk, realises just how bright the stars are in the night sky.

"Oh my god, it's so _pretty_ ," she blurts out, still staring up above her. It's probably a safety hazard, walking with her neck craned back like that, because she's bound to fall back on her ass at some point, but that possibility isn't stopping her. "There are _so many_ of them."

She hears James' deep, rumbling laugh from beside her.

"That's definitely a thing you get more of out here," he agrees. "I took an online astronomy course almost as soon as I started coming here for trips - I wanted to know exactly what it was I was seeing every night."

"So you know what that is?" she asks, pointing vaguely up at the sky at a cluster of stars.

"I can't quite tell what you're pointing at, so I'm not really sure."

She tugs on his hand, pulling him even closer, and trying to steady her hand. "Right there."

"Ah, that's Orion's Belt," he says, and suddenly Lily's aware of just how close he's standing now - so close she can feel his body heat beside her.

Her voice is barely above a whisper when she replies, "Oh."

It strikes her how easy it would be, how little effort it would take, for her to kiss him right now. A little turn, a popping-up onto her tiptoes to close the height difference, and a hair's distance closer would have her right there.

And oh god, does she ever want to.

But as soon as she lets herself think about it, she remembers all the reasons it's a bad idea. How horrifically awkward it could get if it turns out he _doesn't_ feel anything remotely similar towards her and she's just the pathetic girl infatuated with the hot surfing instructor, no better than Petunia's been with him all week - hell, probably _worse_ than Petunia if she tries to kiss him. That's a whole extra step too far.

She can't imagine how weird the next few days would be - having to face him during every single surfing lesson _with her parents and sister_ \- if she fucked things up right now.

And so she stops herself.

"Thanks," she says, taking a step back and restoring a healthy amount of distance between the two of them. "I'll be sure to come to you with all my star-related questions from now on."

If James had at all read the situation between them just now in any of the same ways that Lily did, he doesn't show it. "I'll be happy to help," he tells her.

They fall into step again on the way back, not talking much but their intertwined hands still swinging between the two of them. Lily's convinced he's still holding her hand because she's already warned him that she's a flight risk when drunk, and she's not going to fight with his logic.

He's a gentleman to his core though, walking her all the way up to the path in front of the unit that he knows is hers before dropping her hand and saying goodbye.

"Goodnight, Evans," he says, that self-sure smile of his making an appearance again, illuminated softly by the moonlight.

"Goodnight," she echoes back to him, before popping up onto her toes and kissing him on the cheek.

As soon as she turns away from him, she realises her mistake. The very thing she'd been so very cautious to avoid doing just a few minutes ago, and she'd just gone and done it anyways without even thinking about it.

 _Fuck_.

She all but runs into her room, fumbling a little with the key as she tries to get it into the lock, audibly sighing with relief when she manages to get inside. Petunia is still out, it seems, so the room before her is dark and empty.

She chances a glance out the window of the room, which provides her with a perfect view of the gently illuminated path in front of the bungalow - where James is still standing, a vaguely shocked expression on his face and his hand over the place where her lips had been just a minute earlier.

* * *

Neither of them mention the kiss, innocent as it was, for the next few days. In fact, if anything, James is a little more distant, a little less openly flirtatious. She still catches him looking at her sometimes, but something definitely feels different.

She tries not to feel disappointed by that, but she can't help but feel like she might've crossed some sort of line.

The only real positive development is that Petunia seemingly realises James isn't responding to any of her advances, and she mostly gives up on her efforts altogether.

It seems James has a pretty strong boundary between work and personal, and Lily has landed herself very firmly on the 'work' side of things, never to toe that line again.

Which is fine, she supposes, because she's not ever going to see him again after this trip and it's really quite stupid of her to have developed any sort of feelings for him altogether, but… still.

And so she decides, on that very last evening, she might as well show him what he's missing out on. She successfully manages to claim the bathroom before Petunia, and she takes her time showering, blow-drying her hair, and putting her makeup on - so much so that her older sister takes to a role reversal and ends up banging on the door telling _Lily_ to hurry up.

Lily packed exactly one dress that can truly be considered 'nice,' and she really hadn't planned to wear it at all while she was here, but it is, without a doubt, the hottest thing she brought with her. It's a cherry red maxi dress, with a deep cut V in the front, and it hugs her figure all the way down. It essentially highlights all her best features, and she's pretty sure if there's ever an outfit to catch someone's eye with, it's this one.

When she finally waltzes out of the bathroom, giving her sister the space to get ready herself, she feels like a fucking model - a complete opposite feeling from the first night.

"Thank _god_ ," Petunia says as soon as Lily comes out, being just a little dramatic considering her hair's already done anyways and all she has left is her makeup. "You look good though."

"Thanks," Lily replies, a little surprised. Compliments from her older sister are damn near impossible to come by - she must _really_ look good tonight.

After a few little final touches and a little bit of wasted time scrolling through her phone, she and Petunia head up to the meeting spot - the whole group is apparently meant to take a walk down the beach to get to tonight's dinner spot, so Lily doesn't even bother putting on her sandals and just carries them in her hand.

Sirius notices her first when they join the group.

"Red's definitely your colour," he says to Lily, nodding at her dress, before turning and yelling, "Hey! James!"

It takes a few seconds for James to weave through the crowd. "Can I help you?" he asks Sirius, and then his eyes land on Lily.

He opens and closes his mouth a few times in quick succession, no words coming out, and Sirius randomly starts laughing his ass off.

"No, I don't need any help," Sirius replies, as soon as he regains his composure enough to speak.

"You're a dick," James says, flicking his friend on the shoulder. "We've got everyone here now, yeah?"

"Yep, and just in time too," Remus answers, walking up to their group and sliding his hand into Sirius's.

Mary ends up leading the group on the walk to the restaurant, and Lily falls into step with Remus and Sirius, with James on the opposite side of the two of them. Part of her expects James to switch sides at some point - he still hasn't actually said anything to her since she got here - but he stays firmly planted by Remus's side the whole walk there.

At the actual restaurant, Lily ends up between her mother and Remus, with James two seats down at the head of the table.

They all place their drink orders not long after sitting down, and then Lily finds herself forgetting about James entirely, swept up in a conversation with her parents about their travel plans tomorrow morning and the process of getting herself back to school.

When the drinks arrive, they're all placed at the head of the table between James and Sirius, leaving the two of them solely responsible for doling them out and passing them all the way down the table as necessary.

"Who ordered the Mai Tai?" Sirius asks, looking at the colourful drink that's been placed in front of him.

"Oh, that's mine," Lily says, standing up and reaching across the table to grab her drink, immediately very aware of the view of her tits that James is getting from this angle.

And _he's_ clearly aware of it as well, as indicated by the sudden coughing fit he develops and the visible flush in his cheeks when he manages to regain his composure.

He still isn't actually talking to her, but she's managed to get him flustered multiple times this evening, and that's close enough to a win for now. She takes a sip of her drink, turning her attention back to the conversation with her parents, who are seemingly none the wiser in regards to the move she just pulled.

The whole dinner goes by relatively uneventfully - although she does catch James' eyes on her a few more times throughout the evening. But he never acts on those meaningful looks, so she starts to accept that that's just how things are going to be.

As the evening starts to die down, Remus stands up to make his obligatory closing speech. The whole thing is punctuated with sentimentality and how much he hopes everyone enjoyed the trip and the experiences they had on it, as well as the necessary sales pitch that anyone can go on as many surfing excursions as they want and that repeat travelers are welcomed back with open arms.

"All of you that we're able to track down on Facebook are going to be added to a trip group tonight - you can add any pictures or memories to the page, and we'll also be sure to share any specials we're running on future trips with all of you," Remus tells them all, before concluding with one last note about how honoured he and the whole staff of Marauders Surfing has been to get to work with all of them this week.

Not long after, Lily's phone buzzes with two new notifications, and she opens it to find both a friend request and a group invite from James Potter. She accepts them both, before sticking her phone back in her purse.

She sees him look at his phone briefly, smile to himself, and look back up just in time to laugh at something Sirius just said.

* * *

The whole group takes taxis back from dinner instead of making a beach trek in the dark, so the whole Evans family packs into one and leaves as a group, and all four of them go straight into their rooms when they get home. After all, they've got early flights back in the morning - and there's not much left for any of them to do anyways.

And… Lily's okay with that. James was never a person she was meant to really get involved with anyways, and while she definitely managed to make him notice her multiple times this evening, that's really all she's going to ask for.

She trades out her slinky dress for an oversized T-shirt and running shorts, takes off her makeup, and stuffs the last of her belongings into her suitcase.

Petunia's asleep even before Lily finishes all of that, and it's both silent and pitch-black by the time that Lily climbs into bed.

It doesn't stay like that for long though. In the dark, Lily's phone lights up with a notification, and she quickly pulls the device close to her to avoid waking her sister.

And staring back at her is a Messenger notification from a very familiar 'recently added friend,' his cheeky smile and messy hair and thick-framed glasses instantly recognisable.

_hey_

**_hi_ **

_wanna go stargazing?_

_since it's your last night here and all_

_we could go down to the beach_

Lily feels an uninvited rush of excitement in her stomach, intermingled with something else, and it's probably stupid because he's probably only asking her this in a friendly manner and she's imbibing meaning into his words that really isn't there, so she takes a deep breath and tries to reset her expectations before replying.

**_sure, sounds fun_ **

_i'll meet you outside your place in 5?_

**_works for me_ **

_see you soon ;)_

Fuck, she's really going to stare at that winky face on her phone screen and overanalyse it for the next five minutes, isn't she?

Of course she is.

Well, that and checking her phone clock every thirty seconds to see when the five-minute mark hits.

She's being pathetic, and she's very, _very_ aware of that. Because as much as she'd like to claim that she's well aware James and her probably aren't meant to be, there's some stupidly smitten part of her that really wants him anyways.

At the five minute mark, she tiptoes out of the room, sliding her flip-flops on and closing the door oh-so-gently to avoid waking Petunia.

When she gets outside, she can see a faint, dark figure walking towards her; a few steps further and there's just enough moonlight to light up James' face and the two miniature bottles of wine in his left hand. As soon as they're close enough, he holds one of the bottles out for her to take. And she does, immediately pressing the bottle to her lips and taking a swig of cheap-but-not-actually-terrible merlot.

"I see you ditched the dress," he tells her. "That's a shame."

She keeps her cool externally, but inside, she's throwing a whole damn celebration, because it's the final validation that he _did_ in fact notice just how good she looked in that dress. Mission accomplished.

"Yeah, well, I figured it wasn't quite conducive to stargazing on a sandy beach," she replies. "Much like you ditched the jeans."

His dark jeans from dinner have since been replaced by a pair of athletic shorts, his button-down by a rumpled T-shirt.

"Touché." He inclines his head towards the ocean. "Wanna go?"

"Let's do it."

They walk down to the beach side-by-side, close but not touching, with some sort of electric energy in the air between them. Or, at least, _Lily_ feels that energy - she's still not really sure where James stands.

Out on the beach, James pulls a blanket out from under his arm, shaking it out and laying it as flat as he can manage. Lily straightens out the sides, before taking a seat on the blanket. When James sits down next to her, he's still not touching her, but he's definitely closer than he would be if this were an exclusively friendly stargazing venture.

"Cheers," he says, holding his tiny wine bottle up for her to clink hers against. She does so, and takes another swig of merlot.

Despite her drinks at dinner and the fact that she's drinking now, Lily feels hyper-aware of everything, completely sober even if she's not.

"So, tell me what we're looking at," she asks, leaning back on her hands and looking up at the sky.

He leans into her, pointing up above them. "Well, that right there - that's Scorpio, and then right over there is Ophiuchus - "

"Like the fake thirteenth zodiac sign?"

He gives her an odd look. "Maybe?"

"Oh, don't look at me like that," she says, grinning. "You've got your astronomy obsession, let me have my astrology one."

"No, I love it," he replies. "The astrology obsession is a great addition to the whole 'physics genius who can't cook macaroni and cheese' thing - I really think I'm starting to get a full understanding of just who Lily Evans is here."

"I resent the macaroni and cheese part - that was _one_ time." She sounds nonchalant on the surface, but the use of the word _love_ is sending her heart and head into overdrive. She knows he doesn't mean it _that_ way… but still. It's not nothing either.

"That's still more times than the average person melts an entire plastic colander on a stove," he replies, before looking back up at the sky again. "But you'll appreciate this - that one's Sagittarius."

"Me and my astrology obsession _do_ in fact appreciate that one."

Somewhat brazenly, she puts her hand on top of his. He looks down at it for a second, then looks back up at her. There's an unreadable but almost nervous look on his face as he studies her for a moment, before saying something.

"I'm going to ask you a question," he begins, his words coming out in a rush, "and if the answer is no we can just pretend like I never asked it and go back to looking at the stars, but I just need to at least ask it."

His nervousness feels like something contagious, because there's a knot in her stomach as she tells him, "Fire away."

There's a pause, and then: "Can I kiss you?"

She stares at him blankly for a few seconds, convinced that she must've misheard him somehow. The words replay over and over in her head on a loop, and she's pretty sure she wouldn't have been able to get his exact tone down if it _wasn't_ a thing he'd actually said.

He reads her silence as a bad thing, suddenly looking bashful. "Sorry, I just - it's fine, we can go back to - "

"Yes. The answer is very much yes."

She doesn't wait around to see his reaction, she just closes the space between them, pressing her lips to his, tasting the same wine on his lips that she'd had on her own just a few minutes ago.

It feels like the most natural thing she's ever done, like their lips and bodies were meant to find each other in this exact place and moment. It feels like the most natural thing when she opens her mouth and he opens his, like the most natural thing when she tangles her hands in his hair, like the most natural thing when he grabs her waist and pulls her closer so that she ends up practically straddling him.

Everything about this just feels _right_.

"I've wanted to do that since the first night you got here," he says breathlessly, the moment they come up for air. She's still on top of him, and he's looking at her like she's brighter than the moon and stars above them combined. "You were so fucking gorgeous - you _are_ so fucking gorgeous."

She preens under his praise. "You were the best thing in the restaurant that night," she tells him, sighing happily when his lips drop to her neck. "I couldn't take my eyes off of you."

There's something about his touch that's practically addictive - she'd be more than happy to do this forever, if given the chance. His hands slide down to her hips, the bottom of her T-shirt caught between his fingers as he pulls her even closer, continuing to ravish the delicate skin on her neck and collarbone.

"You can take it off, if you want," she tells him.

He doesn't need to be told twice, pulling the shirt overhead and looking at her with hardly-concealed awe. She'd opted out of wearing a bra - she'd already changed into pajamas anyways, and it's not like her dress from earlier allowed for a bra either - and the wonderment on James' face as he takes in the sight of her fully topless absolutely validates that decision.

"Beautiful," he whispers, his hands finding their way to her breasts.

She should maybe feel self-conscious about the fact that they're in the middle of the beach, that anyone could walk out here at any time and see them, but somehow, knowing that has the exact opposite effect. It sends a thrill through her - one that's compounded when James' tongue flicks over one hardened nipple as he continues caressing the other.

She grinds her hips into his, eliciting a groan that resonates through her as he sucks on the tender skin at the top of her right tit, destined to leave a mark declaring his presence there. "Fuck, James."

Her hips rock into his a few more times of their own accord, the friction even between multiple layers of fabric absolutely maddening. And she's apparently not the only one who feels that way, because one of James' hands slides down, fingers digging into her hip.

And then somehow she's on her back on the blanket and he's on top of her.

There's a moment where she wonders if maybe this is too much too fast, if maybe she shouldn't let things go this far, but the rest of her body very quickly shuts that thought down when James kisses her again. Even if this is just a one-off thing, it's absolutely, one-hundred percent worth it.

She grabs at his T-shirt, pulling it up and off, and the moment he manages to get it over his head and discarded to the side of them, the feeling of her skin against his effectively silences any lingering doubts she might've had. It would take a fucking lightning strike to convince her that anything about what's happening right now is a bad decision.

He tentatively slides his hand under the waistband of her shorts, and she can clearly see on his face the moment he realises she's not wearing underwear either.

"Oops," she whispers, grinning at him conspiratorially, "must've forgotten those too."

Technically, that's more a consequence of her choice of sleepwear rather than an intentional decision for James' benefit, but _he_ doesn't have to know that.

"You're going to kill me," he groans, before kissing her again. His hand dips farther down the front of her shorts; he gently swipes his finger over the length of her and she gasps at his touch.

"The feeling... is mutual," she replies, her voice hitching in the middle when he circles her clit.

But as great as him touching her like this is, she wants more, so she stops letting her hands roam over his torso, and lifts her hips up off the ground for just long enough to shimmy her shorts down.

James stops what he's doing long enough to pull her shorts the rest of the way down, tossing them to the side somewhere, but when he comes back up, he stops early, settling himself between her thighs.

He presses a kiss to the crease in her hip, then the inside of her thigh, and then he puts his mouth on her and she's almost embarrassed by the noise that escapes her when he does so.

" _Fuck_ ," she exhales, as a flick of his tongue against her clit sends shockwaves through her entire body. Her last boyfriend refused to go down on her (which isn't _the_ reason she broke up with him, but she'd be lying if she said it wasn't _a_ reason) and she'd nearly forgotten how fucking _incredible_ it feels, especially when the guy doing it is _this fucking good at it_.

He curls one, two, then three fingers inside of her, and she feels absolutely electric. It doesn't take long after that - just a few purposeful, synchronised movements of his mouth and fingers - until she's crying out his name, her legs shaking as she rides out what's possibly the best orgasm she's had in years.

"Fucking hell," she says, as soon as she's capable of forming words again, threading her fingers through James' hair as he presses soft kisses to her stomach and breasts.

And despite the fact that she's still buzzing from her high, she still wants more of him, wants more than just his fingers inside of her.

"Do you have a condom?" she asks.

He nods, sitting back on his heels. "Back in my room, yeah, if you don't mind a change in location."

She grins at him, propping herself up on her elbows. "What, you mean to tell me you _didn't_ expect to fuck me on the beach when you asked me to come look at the stars with you?"

He laughs, tossing her shorts over to her. "I mean, I was certainly _hoping_ , but I wasn't going to be so bold as to actually _expect_ it."

She puts her shorts back on, then fumbles around for her shirt and does the same. She's pretty sure it's on backwards, but it's not like it matters much - it's just going to come right off as soon as they're back in James' room.

James doesn't even bother with his shirt at all, picking it up along with the blanket, wadding them both up in a ball, and tucking it under his arm. Lily picks up his now-empty bottle of wine and hers, and when she stands back up, he's directly in front of her, smiling broadly. He ducks his head down to kiss her again, his free hand grabbing her bum possessively. She wraps her arms around his neck, the glass bottles in her hands clinking together loudly as they collide, and then she's wrapping her legs around him too, held in place there by his firm grip.

"Take me to bed," she whispers in his ear, grazing her teeth on his earlobe.

"Don't have to ask me twice," he replies, immediately setting off for his room, still carrying her.

His room is luckily the one closest to the ocean, so it's not long until they're at his door. He fumbles with the key a bit - and admittedly Lily isn't helping things, given that she's intentionally being pretty damn distracting, rolling her hips against his and kissing his neck - but eventually the door swings open, revealing a room remarkably similar to Lily's own, but with just one big bed instead of two smaller ones.

She unwinds herself from him for just long enough to throw the bottles away and so that he can get the door shut, but then they're right on top of each other again and James is pulling all of her clothes off for the second time. She matches him, linking her fingers around the elastic waistbands of his shorts and boxers, pushing them down and off of him, before wrapping her hand around him and moving in long, slow strokes.

They stumble together towards the bed, neither one really wanting to separate at all to make the process any easier, but the back of Lily's knees finally collide with the mattress and she falls back on it, pulling James down with her.

"Hold it - let me - " James breathes out, moving away from her briefly and rummaging through the collection of things on top of the nightstand. "Found it," he says triumphantly, ripping the wrapper open and rolling the condom on.

He moves on top of her again, lines himself up with her entrance, then looks her in the eyes. His pupils are blown wide with lust, but there's something undeniably soft there as well.

"You sure?"

"Completely," she replies, kissing him on the cheek.

Because really, how could she be anything but? When he makes her feel this damn wonderful, how could she want anything else than this?

The sex is nothing short of incredible - like when he was going down on her, he picks up on what she likes and what makes her moan with remarkable speed, making sure that she hits her climax for the second time tonight before he follows suit, grunting out her name one last time before collapsing on top of her.

Once he gets the condom off and she goes to the bathroom and cleans herself up a little, she climbs back into bed with him, resting her head on his chest and tangling her legs with his. He slowly drags his fingers up and down her side, like he's tracing the shape of her body and trying to commit it to memory.

She speaks first, breaking the short-lived peaceful bubble they'd created. "Sex on a beach - guess that's something I can check off my bucket list now."

He laughs softly, and he's close enough to her that she can feel the vibrations in his chest against her own. "Same."

She's actually kind of surprised by that. He's been doing this for three years, and it's not like he'd have any sort of problem pulling any girl he wants, looking the way he does.

"You mean to say seducing girls with stargazing and going down on them _isn't_ a thing you do with every new crop of travelers that come on these surfing excursions?"

He looks down at her and meets her eyes, and there's nothing but sincerity in them. "Nah, you're the first."

"Well, that's good to know, I suppose," she tells him. "Probably for the best that you don't make a habit of fucking your students."

"Technically, I'd like to point out that you're no longer my student," he replies. "I _did_ wait that long."

"You waited a few hours."

He gives her a look. "Can you blame me? You show up to dinner looking like the sexiest thing I've ever seen and expect me to be able to think about literally anything else?"

She pouts. "Well, you sure didn't show it at dinner."

His hand stills on her back. "Well, _yeah_ , because your parents and sister and the entire group was there - that didn't really seem like the right moment to say 'hey, your tits look fantastic in that dress and I can't stop thinking about what they'd look like out of it.' "

"Fair enough - as long as you were thinking it, I'll take it," she tells him. "Good to know that dress accomplished my goal then."

"It definitely did," he replies. "And Sirius, being the great friend that he is and thriving off of me making a fool of myself, knew it too - which was why he started laughing his ass off the moment I saw you."

"I think you might've managed the last laugh there," she says, running her fingers over his chest and abdomen, tracing the outlines of his muscles, "considering you still managed to get me in your bed even _despite_ making a fool of yourself."

"Sirius'll probably be delighted with that news too. He's been giving me shit for not making a move yet since the first night of the trip."

"You had so many opportunities too."

But honestly, Lily's not sure she'd want it any other way - it would've been great if they could've been doing this before the very last night of the trip, but everything that happened tonight was so utterly perfect that she can't imagine having things go any other way.

"I got there eventually, and that's what matters," he insists, smirking at her.

She kisses it off of him. "Fair enough."

They lay like that for a while, completely wrapped up in the moment and in each other, and Lily's about to fall asleep in his arms, when suddenly she comes to her senses.

"Shit," she says, sitting up and letting the covers pool around her waist, "I've got to get back. I don't think my parents or Petunia will like it much if they wake up and I'm not there, especially given how early our flight is tomorrow."

James groans, clearly halfway to falling asleep as well. "I'll walk you back," he says, getting up out of bed, putting his shorts on, and stuffing a handful of things into his pocket.

Lily gets dressed, looking back at James' bed once forlornly before walking over to where James is waiting by the door.

It's a short walk back to the other side of the property, but they both seem determined to make the trek as slow as humanly possible. And at the halfway point, James stops abruptly.

"This isn't - I don't - " he stumbles over his words for a few moments, looking down at their linked hands. "I really like you."

"I think you've already made that apparent," she says playfully.

He looks up into her eyes, frowning slightly. "No, I just - what I'm trying to say is… I don't want this to be just a one-time, one night stand sort of thing. I mean, if that's what you want, then that's fine, but I just - I mean, I'm going to be back in the States full time in just a few months, and I'll be back a couple times before then too and… I don't know, I just know I don't want this to be the last time I see you."

He ruffles his hair nervously as he talks - it was already sufficiently mussed from her own handiwork, but now it's practically standing on end.

And Lily feels something in her chest swell at his words, at his confirmation that he wants the same thing she does, that he doesn't want things to end here either.

"I don't want this to be the last time I see you either," she says, grinning and stepping closer to him. "Maybe next time you can even take me out to dinner first."

The nervousness gradually melts off of his face, and he matches her smile with a dazzling one of his own. "I'd like that a lot."

She kisses him then - surprisingly, the promise of doing it again in the future makes her want it even _more_ right now - and he matches her with equal intensity.

His hands wander and so do hers, and eventually she pulls back, her heart racing and her breathing heavy. "Is it bad that I already want to do all of this again?"

"I don't care if it is, because I'm right there with you," he replies, and his hips pressed against hers confirm that he means what he says.

She's in the middle of weighing asking him to go back to his room again with the fact that she really _should_ get back to hers instead of moving backwards, when he reaches into his pocket and fishes something out, the metallic packaging reflecting the moonlight. "I _do_ have a condom this time."

She laughs at that, grinding her hips against his. "Awfully presumptuous, don't you think?"

"Ah, perhaps, but this time I've got prior experience backing up my presumptions."

"Well in that case, presume away," she replies, grabbing his hand and dragging him into the first secluded corner of the resort she can find.

**Author's Note:**

> find me on [tumblr!](http://downn-in-flames.tumblr.com/)


End file.
